Literature for Today's Young Adults

With 140 fewer pages than the fourth edition, the fifth obviously has been tightened; it's partly in the format, with narrower margins and less white space. Otherwise, some text has been rephrased or rearranged and topics (for example, adolescent psychology) given shorter shrift. Coverage of Holocaust literature has been expanded, and discussion of problem novels improved. Sports books have been dumped in with humor, movies, and other stuff, including humorous poetry, which, it seems, the authors feel is the only kind teens read for pleasure; other types of poetry as well as short stories and drama are relegated to the English classroom, coverage of which has been enlarged. The chapter on sf and fantasy is good on historical aspects but weak on today's writers. A short list of Internet listserves and Web sites has been incorporated as part of using YA literature in the library. Once again, updating of appendixes seems spotty. Nevertheless, this is useful as a resource for youth librarians and a tool for teaching YA literature. Sally Estes.